


what's death to the living (through the torture and the pain)

by simplememories



Series: past and future come back to haunt us (hp) [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27461062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplememories/pseuds/simplememories
Summary: It is January of 1994 and the Hogwarts population could not have chosen a worser way to start the year."They saw the ghostly bodies fall to the floor,  thudding like pieces in a game of chess. They saw the Hogwarts ties hanging around the neck among most of them, like nooses ready for the execution. The House patches on the fronts of their robes bare reminders of the war that would kill them all, whether it be Gryffindor or Slytherin, or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Why couldn't they realize what it meant?"~ an interlude, in which after seeing the battle of hogwarts, the wizarding world processes what it all means
Relationships: Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter
Series: past and future come back to haunt us (hp) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727185
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	what's death to the living (through the torture and the pain)

**Author's Note:**

> to fully understand this oneshot, you should check out the previous oneshot in this series called "we can't see the future (but we can try)" -- it's about three thousand words so it's not a long read!

_January 3, 1994_

A one-time thing, the professors had labelled it. Hogwarts rearing up its magic again, claimed Professor Trelawney, who had looked so excited over the break which, Harry noted, seemed to make McGonagall rather annoyed.

(“No, Sybill, I do not need more tea leaves, thank you very much,” was a phrase Harry heard many times throughout the last couple of weeks at Hogwarts.)

However, some officials from the Ministry of Magic were apparently going to be sent to Hogwarts to find out what could have caused those images to appear. The gossip mill was running rampant with rumours, however much the professors tried to put them out.

Hermione thought the whole thing was rubbish. “I honestly don’t see how that could’ve been from the future,” she sniffed. They were walking through the courtyard to their next class. “I mean Divination is an entire branch of magic faked by frauds, just look at Professor Trelawney!”

Ron stopped abruptly, raising his eyebrows, “So you’re saying that someone bothered doing that entire-- spectacle , just to get to everybody?” 

The bushy-haired girl had no response, but turned to Harry, who was still upset after the whole Firebolt incident, as if expecting some backup of sorts. He simply scowled and turned away, pretending to be immersed in one of his textbooks. She clenched her fists and walked off with a huff, her robes flying behind her. Neville Longbottom, their fellow dormmate, approached them from behind nervously. “I mean she’s kinda right. My Gran reckons it’s Sirius Black, trying to stir up trouble.” 

Ron turned around to face the other boy, “So now, you believe her?” he asked irritatedly.

Neville winced, “Uh…” he glanced at Harry who shook his head frantically, “... no?” 

“Whatever,” he grumbled and stormed ahead as well. Harry looked at the turned back of his friend, then back to the nervous-looking boy.

“Hey Neville,” he said, “did you need something?” Neville shifted and opened his mouth and closed it again. “Well?”

“I--” he paused as if unsure how to say it, then sighed and opened his bookbag, rifling through pieces of parchment paper. Harry squinted, he swore he could’ve seen the Rememberall from first year.

“Look, if this is going to take long, you can just show me after class,” he said, taking a glance behind him; many of the other third-year Gryffindor students were already vanishing from the courtyard.

Nevile shook his head, “No, I got it, I meant to give it to you during breakfast, but I couldn’t find you, so…” He dug out a small album book, a similar one Hagrid had given Harry at the end of first year. He opened it, letting the pages fall to one photograph, full of some girls giggling and shoving each other around. “My Gran found these-- er-- my parents were friends with yours back in the day, so she, uh, managed to collect some pictures and yeah…” he trailed off sheepishly. 

Harry looked at the photograph open-mouthed, “I-- I didn’t know that actually… ” He took the book in his hand and flipped through the pages, raising his eyebrows as he saw two boys chasing each other around. Underneath was the caption: 

**Frank & James: Ages 6 & 7**

“Frank.”

“What?” Harry whipped his head around to look back at Neville.  
  
“That uh… that’s my dad, I-- yeah…” He scratched the back of his neck and gave a small (a bit bittersweet) smile, “... my Gran managed to make copies, she said that uh…” he changed his voice, giving off a haughty tone, “ _what happened to Lily and James was terrible if I had a say in the matter I would set fire to You-Know-Who himself!_ ”

Harry laughed softly, “Thanks.” 

The other boy grinned back at him, before seeing what time it was. A curse slipped from his mouth, “We have class!” 

And if both boys ended up late and got detention, well… neither of them said a thing.

***

After a week of spending most of winter break trying to figure out Sirius Black and the holograms, Harry was frustrated (to say the least). They must have had something to do something with Sirius Black-- he was… he was taunting them, teasing them, as he wandered around Hogwarts searching for ways to murder the students in their sleep-- to finish the job he had been sent by his lord thirteen years ago. 

***

What was shown was a faroff nightmare for many Hogwarts students. They knew it was coming, but five years, they reassured themselves, five years. Young first years had clutched onto their prefects' arms worried and frightened-- not sure if the event was normal or not. 

It was a telltale sign of the war to come, of the students that would fall, of those who would stand courageously and fight (and of those who wouldn’t). 

But the students didn’t know that. The teachers didn’t know that. The Ministry didn’t know that. They didn’t even know what to make of it all and so, the warning failed. 

The bodies littered on the floor were haunting, yes, but no one really knew who they were. Well, besides poor Colin Creevey, who quickly became the center of the rumours seeping its ways through Hogwarts. 

So then came another charade, as the Minister put on a fake smile, and reassured the papers and parents, that everything was to be fine.

(They all believed it. This was not an era of lies, there were no Death Eaters, no scary monsters, no looming war ahead of them-- so why should they think less?)

But still. They saw the ghostly bodies fall to the floor, thudding like pieces in a game of chess. They saw the Hogwarts ties hanging around the neck among most of them, like nooses ready for execution. The House patches on the fronts of their robes bare reminders of the war that would kill them all, whether it be Gryffindor or Slytherin, or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Why couldn't they realize what it meant? 

And well, they all had to do something the Muggleborns had did so long ago when they saw an owl swooping onto their front porch-- _believe_.

**Author's Note:**

> imagine writing harry potter fanfiction in 2020, couldn't be me


End file.
